FACTS:

Recorded in May of 1992

as The Bearded Clam Wonder

Jackson Skate Center - Jackson, MO

side one:
Hick Pi Barbecue
Shepherd
Sir Real
Sunflower
Delving Into The Book Of Facts
Groping (In The Dark)

By the spring of 1992 we had some new songs and decided to record them at the Jackson Skate Center in Jackson, MO. The Skate Center was owned by one Cliff Wilson and was the cultural center of a thriving small town. Lucky for us his son (Brian Wilson, not the Beach Boy) was/is a close friend of ours, and he graciously offered space in the concession area for us to record in. Not only did he offer us space but he also said he would engineer the four-track and mixer for us. Brian has excellent ears and a good know how of electronic equipment, so of course we accepted. We also decided that this group of songs would be recorded “live” with all four of us playing our instruments at the same time. So we arrived at the JSC on Memorial Day and proceeded to record our second tape. We started early (8am I think) and the magic was not flowing. How do you make music so early in the morning with no stimulation except free soda from the snack bar? After a couple of hours of figuring out how to hook up the mixer (borrowed from the band The Church of Bowling) to Don’s four-track, we finally got a couple of good takes. The plan was to record all four instruments (2 guitars, bass and drums) all on 1 track, that way we’d have 3 more to play around with for vocals and overdubs. Rodney Bollinger was there to record the session on video for prosperity.

“Hic Pi Barbeque” came off without a hitch. This catchy tune was written by Tony and I think it really demonstrates what could have been if we actually took ourselves seriously. It starts off with a bouncing, rhythm guitar intro and then you hear Marty yell “A ONE TWO THREE FAUR!” and the rest of the band joins in. We actually sound like we know what we’re doing. Marty wrote the words inspired by a restaurant sign in Sikeston, MO. The name of the restaurant was Hickory Pit Barbeque, but because of the burned out bulbs on the sign it read “Hic Pi Barbeque”. So Marty sings about this mystical place where one goes when one dies and you do nothing but eat an endless supply of BBQ. The whole song has such a great quality to it, everything is in the right place at the right time -- all recorded live with no vocals. Even the guitar solo by Don is mesmerizing in its dueling quality of seriousness and absurdity. Marty also made a video for this tune. The other stand-out song from this session is “Sir Real”, a nice laid back song about, well I’m not sure what it’s about, but the music is way cool. Marty and Tony do a little back and forth thing with the bass and guitar while Don acts as the glue. Don’s parts were always so complicated but he makes them sound simple. The ending of this song is the most interesting. We change the beat and go into a little Steely Dan thing (ala “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number”). It sounded kind of empty so someone suggested added some percussion instruments. As luck would have it a member of the Jackson Marching Band was at the Skate Center and she had the keys to the building where all the instruments for the marching band were stored. We raided the building, brought back a ton of instruments and used them on the end of “Sir Real” -- another masterpiece.

I think we recorded 5 or 6 songs during that marathon session which ended that night around 10pm or so with us recording our punk classic “Billboard”. The next day Marty added the vocals and a few extra things here and there (not much). We didn’t have enough songs for a full length tape so we padded it with the previous year’s material (“Amish Man”, “Delving”, “Footie”, etc.) and mixed it on Rod’s stereo cause he had the best one with a tape deck -- and wah-la we had a second release.

-- Dana Smith